Guinea's wounded president flown to Morocco

FILE- In this file photo taken Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, Guinea military leader Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara salutes during independence day celebrations in Conakry, Guinea. A renegade faction of Guinea's presidential guard opened fire Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009, on the African country's leader, while Moussa Dadis Camera was in Conaikry, a government spokesman said, amid rumors of deep divisions within the army, just 11 months after camera sized Presidential power in a military-led coup. It was not immediately clear if Camera was wounded. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)
— AP

FILE- In this file photo taken Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, Guinea military leader Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara salutes during independence day celebrations in Conakry, Guinea. A renegade faction of Guinea's presidential guard opened fire Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009, on the African country's leader, while Moussa Dadis Camera was in Conaikry, a government spokesman said, amid rumors of deep divisions within the army, just 11 months after camera sized Presidential power in a military-led coup. It was not immediately clear if Camera was wounded. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)
/ AP

The massacre led the European Union and the African Union to impose sanctions on Guinea, including a travel ban on top members of the junta.

The tension between the two men escalated this week as a U.N. commission began interviewing witnesses in an effort to assign culpability for the Sept. 28 killings, the officials say.

"The relationship between them became venomous after Dadis asked Toumba to go before the commission," said Information Minister Cheick Fantamady Conde, whose office overlooks the camp where the presidential guard is garrisoned. "But it's not yesterday that the seeds for this incident were sown. ... Everyone saw Toumba at the stadium."

It's unclear what prompted Camara to leave his office in the main military barracks in Conakry and drive downtown to confront Toumba. But soon after Camara and his bodyguards arrived, an altercation ensued, said Conde, who heard the volley of gunfire from his office. A retired diplomat who is close to the junta said that officers present during the confrontation heard Toumba shout out: "I won't take the fall for you."

Opposition leaders who suffered injuries in the stadium at the hand of Toumba's men say the power vacuum is dangerous, but also offers Guinea a sliver of hope.

"It could be the beginning of a solution," said Oury Bah, the second-ranking leader of the Union for the Democratic Forces of Guinea, a leading opposition party. "If the army doesn't split apart and begin fighting amongst itself, this could be a chance for Guinea to negotiate a return to civilian rule."